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Will Tesla coil damage electronics?

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hsieh

Sun Jan 29 2012, 01:14PM

Registered Member #1412 Joined: Thu Mar 27 2008, 04:07PM
Location: Taipei Taiwan
Posts: 278

I recently bought a very expensive Marantz CD player. I always unplug it when testing my Tesla Coil.(I ground my tesla coil to mains neutral)But yesterday I forgot to unplug it when testing my DRSSTC.It is still working but I'm worried because I once connect my MP3 player to a audio modulated SSTC.After that,my MP3 player is still working but I notice some distortion and noise when listen to music.

I remember someone said that his tesla coil destroyed his server.So I'm afraid.

Conundrum

Sun Jan 29 2012, 03:02PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

I would never use mains neutral as an earth, this can cause problems such as RF voltages appearing on mains sockets some distance away from the coil.

TC's always need a dedicated ground.
-A

genious 7

Sun Jan 29 2012, 03:04PM

Registered Member #2887 Joined: Sat May 29 2010, 11:10PM
Location: Panama City, Panama
Posts: 107

Depends on power. Regardless of it, odds are that if it still works, it works.

By the way, do you really ground at main's neutral, or at mains ground?

hsieh

Sun Jan 29 2012, 04:03PM

Registered Member #1412 Joined: Thu Mar 27 2008, 04:07PM
Location: Taipei Taiwan
Posts: 278

In my home,there is no mains ground,and I live in a apartment so I cannot set up my own ground.Water pipes here are made of plastic so I cannot use water pipe as ground.

Platinum

Sun Jan 29 2012, 06:12PM

Registered Member #3926 Joined: Fri Jun 03 2011, 08:32PM
Location: UK.
Posts: 525

I had to make my own ground, and even then my PS3 and router pick up RF severely.

Tetris

Sun Jan 29 2012, 09:35PM

Registered Member #4016 Joined: Thu Jul 21 2011, 01:52AM
Location: Gainesville, FL
Posts: 660

For my ground, I bought a 5 foot long copper pipe (1 inch in diameter) and impaled it into the ground right outside my garage side door. Also one IMPORTANT thing you need to know for your hobby coiling:

Tesla coils have very, very powerful electromagnetic fields and electrostatic fields. The strength of an electrostatic field is easily viewable by taking a CFL bulb (pigtail or straight) and from a distance, walking closer to the operating coil to see the distance where it starts lighting up. You will be surprised. The electrostatic field and electromagnetic field both strongly affects the innards of unshielded electronics. As a matter of fact, I think I destroyed my cellphone this way. I was using it to record my (still fail) coil working, and now it simply won't charge. And this was when the coil wasn't tuned, didn't have good caps, and was an utter failure. You WANT to be careful when audio modulating. Modulate from a distance. I never built a SSTC (I plan to one day) or a DRSSTC (plan to one day) but I've seen enough videos of them to see that almost everyone modulates them from a distance. The only time that I think is fine to keep an MP3 at a relatively close distance is when you have an audio modulated flyback/ ZVS arc. I sort of destroyed my flyback before getting to use it.. so I haven't tested it out. I'm not a beginner in the subject, but I'm no pro either. :/ you should ask someone like aonomus or bjorn or Goodchild or Dr. Spark for more precise answers. Also I think this post should be moved to the "Tesla Coil" forum section.

Killa-X

Mon Jan 30 2012, 03:24AM

Registered Member #1643 Joined: Mon Aug 18 2008, 06:10PM
Location:
Posts: 1039

i run my drsstc in my room, a 12x48 inch secondary, doing 4ft sparks. i have a gaming computer in my room, and 3 pinball machines in the room next to mine. I've done coils for over a year and never had any issues. things run fine while its on,generally my computer is controlling the coil. but, i wont promise this. and its ground to earth outside my window, then a 0.1uf cap from secondary to mains ground.

my router doesn't die, and my phone is always on me. i never had anything die except a old meter i shoved on the breakout. but no rf damage :) running 680A primary current at 10%. and that's the key. my sstc, 50% or more flicks our cheap touch lamp on and off. its over 1p0ft away. but again. 1 year. nothing dead or damaged

Alex M

Mon Jan 30 2012, 08:00AM

Registered Member #3943 Joined: Sun Jun 12 2011, 05:24PM
Location: The Shire, UK
Posts: 552

I have had HV RF do some pretty strange things to the computer equipment in my room.

The slayer exciter circuit causes my router to restart and my laptop to lock up, usually its the keyboard that stops working until I reboot. I know its not a tesla coil and the devices are fine once restarted but I think a faraday cage around the coil might be a good idea here as it could be effecting things in a neighbours house which I think there are laws about EMF interference.

Forty

Mon Jan 30 2012, 04:25PM

Registered Member #3888 Joined: Sun May 15 2011, 09:50PM
Location: Erie, PA
Posts: 649

I've had simple AC and DC flyback arcs "disconnect" my mouse and keyboard and blip out the picture on a tube tv. point is: EMI does affect some devices and care should be taken so that no expensive devices are harmed.

Thomas W

Mon Jan 30 2012, 04:49PM

Registered Member #3324 Joined: Sun Oct 17 2010, 06:57PM
Location:
Posts: 1276

depends how hard you throw it at the electrical item in question....

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